Hell (2011)

A German film reminiscent of The Road (2009) although also has touches of Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) and Manhunt* (2008) I was remarkably impressed with it, initially thinking that it would be a bit of a boring watch. The film follows a group of wasteland survivors traveling towards the mountains in hope of a better life. Unprecedented solar activity has caused the ozone layer and upper atmosphere to burn away, leaving the earth unprotected from the sun’s rays. The planet is a desert wasteland, with water a rarity and the sun deadly to anyone who ventures into direct sunlight without protection. Our characters are alas waylaid on the mountain roads and forced to fight for survival against cannibals.

There is little to essentially be said about ‘Hell’ other than that it is well done. The scenario is realistic and I love how thorough the makers have been in providing believable survivors. Car windows are blacked out, makeshift protective clothing is everywhere, radiators are bled and cisterns checked to find any remaining water and our characters relationships and actions are superbly believable.

The version I watched was dubbed, which took a little getting used to. Due to the fact that I am not a massive martial arts film fan I am unused to watching a character’s mouth move out of sync with the words that I am hearing, but the dubbing was done well and at lots of points I stopped noticing the dubbing altogether. My one complaint would be the lack of screen time for ‘Tom’ who I felt was a very under-developed character.

Hell is a nice little film. It is nothing special, not a film I will be wanting to re-watch over and over again or put in any top 10 lists, but it is none the less a pretty good watch, and importantly (in my opinion) you can imagine it happening – time to stock up on the factor 50.

* Another surprisingly good watch. Swedish with subtitles and starring (among others) Lasse Valdal – one of the dudes from Dead Snow.